Twitter is not the healthiest of habits. It sucks hours. It sucks days. It requires dedication. It requires long stretches of inactivity. It makes you lie to yourself. It makes you tell yourself that you are learning something by continuously refreshing your feed to read the latest article or tweet from such and such opinion leader.
It takes you away from life. And life’s pursuits. The avid users of the medium will claim this is not true. But if you believe them, it is a bit like taking advice from a crack addict on the virtues of smoking rocks. There are very few, if you are wondering.
I stopped using twitter about five weeks ago. I have been more productive, more engaged in the world around me, and I am slowly making progress on my novel. Currently I am struggling with a bit of dialogue between characters, but at least I am not struggling to keep up with the tweets.
I’ve heard social media helps create revolutions, but I also think it stops many more. Personal revolutions, societal revolutions, all put on hold because everyone’s having one-way conversations with themselves, rather than engaging with real humans.
I don’t know how long I will be able to stay on the wagon, but I am enjoying the fresh air.
i agree with you fully – how irritating to read tweet after tweet of ‘nothingness’, especially those from the big intellectuals. To see it in print is even more painful – why the need for the repetition. I stopped as soon as I found how futile it is.
And Facebook is just as bad, if not worse; a full-time diversion. If I don’t give it up, I’ll bankrupt myself.
I’ve never bothered with Twitter. As for Facebook, I stopped using that ages ago.
It seems kind of ironic that people have tweeted this article….
In a world of constant distraction, Twitter is one more diversion of attention, one more monologue to participate in.
And here’s me thinking… I haven’t heard from Mr Smith for a while. I was thinking perhaps it was the time zones… but now I know. You’re off twitter. I must say this is a growing trend. I gave it up for ages only to come back to it. I probably use it more like email ’cause it forces me to write with 140 characters rather than rant on like I’m doing now. But I’m totally off Facebook and have been for many months now. I think it’s going to be the next big trend as people realise there’s a life beyond social media. Finally did I hear book? Need an editor